Thursday, September 18, 2008

My 'net decided to PMS today. Everyone knows the way to stop a petulant child is to pay them no attention, so I turned my back to its disconnecting spasms and went to check out the Winter '09 catalog sent to me by the nice people over at Flux. (And sure enough, in the five minutes it took to read through their new releases' synopses and such, my internet calmed down.)

Y'all, it sounds like Flux has a damn nice offering for the season! Here are the ones that caught my eye:

(And just as a note, I can't seem to find the summaries on Amazon or on the Flux site, so these are typed in from the catalog.)

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. KingFrom the catalog: In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with "the dust of 100 dogs," dooming her to the one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body--with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager named Saffron and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

This book is raising hell's flames everywhere lately. It's the cover of the catalog, the first book listed in the catalog, and the backdrop of some random page in the middle of the catalog. They don't want us to miss it, y'all! And now you can see it here.

For some reason my goddamn bookstore didn't have it on for preorder so I just sent them a polite email requesting they add it or ominous else. My friends will be hearing a lot about this. I'm nothing if not imposing persuasive.

The Glass Maker's Daughter by V. Briceland (it's a dude!)

From enchanted champagne flutes to rituals that hold the city together, magic lies at heart of Cassaforte. Bearing a striking resemblance to Venice, this medieval city of canals is the home of Risa Divetri, whose future is about to be decided.

Risa has led the sheltered life of a nobleman's daughter, but now she's on the brink of adulthood. Soon she will leave home to study the family craft--creating and enchanting glass objects. The gods will choose which school is best for her. But then the impossible happens: Risa remains unchosen. The gods don't need her? he rejection sends Risa into a spiral of shame, anger, and confusion. If she's not meant to be a glass maker, what will she do?

An answer is found when Cassaforte's age-old magic begins to unravel and corruption threatens their kingdom. As she battles against dark forces, Risa's fiery spirit and untapped powers rise to the surface--leading her toward her true fate.

1) This is set in a medieval kingdom, 2) this deals with gods, and 3) I like it when it's the GIRL who has the powers and such.

This Is What I Want to Tell You by Heather Duffy Stone Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection--and as Noelle's best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fit perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year at Oxford. When Keeley returns, Nadio falls in love with her. Noelle, ripped apart by resentment, sees her as an ungrateful rich girl (Steph's says, read: bitch). But Keeley has a painful story that she can't tell yet. As Nadio and Keeley hide their romance, Noelle dives into something of her own--a destructive affair with an older boy.

Okay, that synopsis is a mess, I'll admit. Keeley has a painful story--but surrender more details! Relating to what?! That sentence is just thrown in there. Nadio (name is...interesting) and her are hiding their romance, but I suppose they're not doing a good job of it cos Noelle's still diving headfirst into what seems to be an abusive relationship. And speaking of which, there should be another way of wording "hiding their romance", as it's not exactly a secret since Noelle knows about it anyway. They're tip toeing around it? Being discreet? What?

Bottom line is: when you try to include three people's lives in one short paragraph, it becomes sketchy. However, I see major potential in this one. I waaaaaaaaaant it.

Heh, guess who's speeding through the remaining books to be reviewed from Flux so she can get her ARC requests for the next season in?

I am totally coming in late to this discussion because I've been out talking to independent booksellers about the book and life in general (and how NO ONE SHOULD BY BOOKS AT WALMART DUDES.) But hey wow thanks Steph for doing this piece & for the kind words here in the comments, folks! I agree - some of the covers Flux has been putting out lately are insanely great. Anyone buy Maggie Stiefvater's LAMENT yet?

And the Flux catalog is available in pdf on the main Flux site. Got to the TRADE tab and you'll find the winter 09 catalog in there.

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Hey! For some reason, this embedded comment form makes most people click twice before the comment is processed and published. It's not you - it's just that it's a new Blogger feature with kinks and all that. (But I adore it and don't wanna get rid of it!) I removed Captcha to make the process easier. You don't have to rewrite the comments twice; just click on SUBMIT twice and it should work. If not, email me. Thanks! -Steph